A PNG local employed by the Salvation Army has been accused of being a key assailant in the attack that resulted in the death of Iranian asylum seeker Reza Barati, according to staff employed at the Manus Island detention centre.

''Everyone knows who attacked him and is surprised no one has been taken into custody,'' a well-placed source told Fairfax Media. A spokesman for the Papua New Guinea police confirmed on Sunday that no one has been taken into custody following the death of Mr Barati a fortnight ago.

The Salvation Army denies the allegation.

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Sources on Manus Island said cleaning staff had scrubbed clean the detention centre - including the area where Mr Barati died - the morning after the fatal violence of February 17. There are concerns this could compromise the investigation into his death.

Bullet casings and bullet holes at person-height in the centre walls were also found, staff who work at the centre said.

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It appears the attack that resulted in Mr Barati's death, and injuries to more than 60 asylum seekers, was an orchestrated response to a rolling protest that involved asylum seekers chanting ''F--- PNG'' and baring their buttocks.

An account pieced together from interviews with staff asserts that the lights were turned off in the area where the asylum seekers were injured shortly before local police and locals employed by security contractor G4S and the Salvation Army entered the centre.

The account of Mr Barati's death is consistent with the one related by relatives who have spoken with a cousin who witnessed the attack.

It says Mr Barati was in the computer room when the violence began, made a return to what he hoped would be safety in his room, then was attacked - allegedly by a local employed by the Salvation Army. Mr Barati died after repeated blows to the head, most likely by a piece of timber, a PNG autopsy found last week.

Sources said tensions at the centre were fanned by a chaotic handover of contracting work at the centre from G4S and the Salvation Army to Transfield Services.

A Salvation Army spokesman said it had investigated claims that one of its employees was responsible for Mr Barati's death. ''We found absolutely no evidence that it occurred,'' the spokesman said.

Following a visit to Papua New Guinea, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announced that Australia and PNG would work to ''synthesise'' the various reviews into Mr Barati's death. Australia and PNG will also hold a monthly joint ministerial forum to oversee the implementation of the regional resettlement agreement signed between the two nations last year.